NPDES - Project History
Project Scope and Purpose:
The proposed updates and amendments to the county’s stormwater management regulations:
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Provide greater protection of the public health, safety and welfare by preventing flooding, slope instability and preserve water quality for aquatic habitats, recreation and drinking water
- Prevent and control the impacts of stormwater runoff from new development, redevelopment and construction activities, including public and private development and roads
- Comply with the minimum requirements, thresholds, definitions, and adjustment and variance criteria in Appendix 1 Minimum Technical Requirements for New Development and Redevelopment (Appendix 1) of the Permit, or provide minimum requirements, thresholds and definitions that provide equivalent or similar protection of receiving waters and levels of pollution control to those required in Appendix 1
- Include a site planning process and best management practice (BMP) selection and design criteria equivalent to those in the Washington State Department of Ecology’s 2005 Stormwater Management Manual for Western Washington (2005 Ecology Manual)
- Include stormwater standards equivalent to those in the 2005 Ecology Manual in a new Snohomish County Drainage Manual
- Allow non-structural preventative actions and source reduction approaches such as low impact development techniques to minimize the creation of impervious surfaces, and measures to minimize the disturbance of soils and vegetation
- Regulate land disturbing activity including both clearing and grading
Background:
The purpose of this project is to update stormwater management regulations to comply with federal and state law and to protect Washington's waters from stormwater pollution and to protect land areas from unstable slopes and landslides.
In 1987, Congress changed the Clean Water Act (CWA) to include stormwater discharges in the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed rules to implement the new regulations in two phases (I and II). The Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) implements the federal stormwater rules through municipal stormwater permits.
The NPDES and State Waste Discharge General Permits cover discharges from municipal separate storm sewers. Phase I of the municipal stormwater program went into effect in 1990 and applies to municipalities with populations of more than 100,000.
The DOE, the Washington State agency that administers the federal CWA, re-issued Snohomish County’s Phase I Municipal Stormwater Permit (Permit) on February 16, 2007, pursuant to the NPDES regulations. The Permit regulates discharges to the county's municipal storm sewer system. The Permit requires the county to implement a wide variety of actions and programs intended to control and monitor pollution that might be discharged to and from the storm drainage system owned by the county including adoption of compliant development regulations.
On June 17, 2009, the DOE issued a modification to the Permit. The modified permit incorporates the outcomes of permit appeals, including settlement agreements and rulings by the Pollution Control Hearings Board. In addition, DOE made modifications to the permit to improve flexibility and reduce costs for local governments implementing permit requirements.
You can view the modified permits, the Response to Comments, the Fact Sheet, the State Register notices of issuance, and a focus sheet on the DOE webpage at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/stormwater/municipal/permitMOD.html
Links to external information:
Compliance Documents:
The following historic project documents are available from the NPDES ftp site:
- 02-13-08 Department of Ecology Transmittal
- 04-23-09 Department of Ecology Transmittal
- 01-27-10 Department of Ecology Transmittal
- 02-18-10 State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) checklist and
Determination of Nonsignificance (DNS)
- 02-23-10 Planning Commission Briefing materials
- 03-23-10 Planning Commission Public Hearing materials
- 03-24-10 SEPA DNS withdrawal/re-issuance
- DOE Documents including Agreed Orders and preliminary approval letter
Contact Information:
The project managers for the stormwater management regulation update (NPDES) are:
- Bill Leif, DPW, Environmental Programs Compliance Specialist, 425.388.3148 (Rules)
- Linda Kuller, AICP, PDS, Chief Planning Officer, 425.388.3412 (Regulations)